Small annual.. Leaves filiform, up to 1 cm. long, 0.1–0.3 mm. wide, spongy, finely acute.. Scapes ± 10, 3.5–5 cm. high, 4-ribbed; sheaths almost equalling the leaves, loose, subinflated upwards.. Capitulum depressed-globose, 2.5 mm. diameter, fuscous with slightly paler involucral bracts, the white-papillose petal-tips visible; involucral bracts as wide as the capitulum, crateriform, suborbicular, scarious, concave, rounded with crenulate upper margin; floral bracts obovate, obtuse to rounded with crenulate upper margin; receptacle shortly pilose; flowers trimerous, 1.0–1.2 mm. long, flushed grey upwards.. Male flowers: sepals narrowly oblong, the two lateral falcate, keeled, median flat, unequally connate into a spathe or almost free, tips denticulate; petals small, glabrous, eglandular; anthers black.. Female flowers: sepals very unequal, two laterals oblong-falcate, keeled, a spongy wing on the keel ± as wide as the sepal-body, tip acute, upper sepal-margins and upper wing-margin denticulate, a few white papillae below the tip; median sepal shorter, narrowly oblong, not winged, the tip denticulate; petals unequal, linear-oblong, eglandular, the tips entire, white-papillose.. Seeds ellipsoid, 0.35 mm. long, brown, minutely punctate-papillose in transverse striae.
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